New Delhi: The government on Monday announced it will undertake a massive rollout of ATMs in post offices over the next three years as it looks to provide better access to financial services in rural areas.

"To provide better access to financial services, especially in rural areas, we will undertake a massive nationwide rollout of ATMs and micro ATMs in post offices over the next three years," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget speech for 2016-17.

The Department of Posts (DoP) has already announced plans to open 1,000 ATMs by March this year and also bring all 25,000 departmental post offices under core banking system. DoP has 25,000 departmental post offices and 1,30,000 rural post offices across the country.

The core banking system will enable customers to operate their accounts, and avail banking services from any post office on its network, regardless of where they maintain their account.